KENYA, UAE BOOST DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE COOPERATION

Mon 08 April 2024:

The UAE and Kenya are expanding cooperation in digitalisation and technology, Emirati News Agency, WAM, reports.

According to the report, the two sides have signed a MoU to explore investments in digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI) services in Kenya, including developing data centre projects with a total capacity of up to 1,000 megawatts.

In the field of AI, the technical and investment potential of developing Large Language Models will be assessed, the report added.

The Investment Memorandum was signed by Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, UAE Minister of Investment and Eliud Owalo, Cabinet Secretary at Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, the report says.

Comprehensive economic partnership deal

Last month, the United Arab Emirates and Kenya have concluded a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).

Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, was one of the first African countries with which the UAE launched bilateral trade deal talks in 2022 as part of a strategy to diversify its oil-based economy.

Non-oil trade between the Gulf state and Kenya reached $3.1 billion in 2023, up 26.4% on 2022, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Thani Al Al Zeyoudi said in a post on social media platform X.

“We will now look to expand across sectors from food production and mining to technology and logistics,” he said of the agreement.

UAE state news agency WAM quoted Kenya’s trade minister Rebecca Miano as saying the deal would play an important role in enabling Kenyan exports to reach important markets in Asia and the Middle East and “in stimulating investment inflows that will further develop our national capabilities”.

The UAE has signed several CEPAs including with former foes Israel and Turkey and with Asian giants India and Indonesia. The Gulf state sealed its first CEPA with African nations in 2023 with the island of Mauritius and the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville.

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